


2. Haven't Had Enough

by somepeoplearewild



Series: Ever After Oneshot Series [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Awkwardness, Crush, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, M/M, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-21
Updated: 2013-02-21
Packaged: 2017-11-30 00:23:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/693220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somepeoplearewild/pseuds/somepeoplearewild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam likes Harry but he doesn’t know why. Harry’s just a little weirder than he’s used to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	2. Haven't Had Enough

**Author's Note:**

> The ending is crap. I'm crap. Goodbye.

**"Testing, testing**   
**I’m just suggesting**   
**You and I might just be the best thing"  
Haven't Had Enough - Marianas Trench**

“The Great Schism!” Harry half-shouts half-giggles from the middle of the classroom.

The entire class erupts with laughter. That is the fifth—sixth?—time today Harry has answered with ‘the Great Schism’ in Mr. Hoffman’s European history class. The first time, everyone kind of pitied him as a poor, dumb little thing when it was obviously the wrong answer. The second time, a few people caught on and began snickering quietly. But by now, it’s a full-on comedy act wrapped up in three words. Really, it was the teacher’s fault for calling on Harry over and over.

“No, Mr. Styles,” Mr. Hoffman sighs tiredly. Harry Styles was not in the job description. “That is not the right answer.”

“Well that’s your fault for not asking me the right question.”

Everyone laughs again at Harry’s cheekiness. Everyone, except for Liam Payne who sits in the corner wrapped up in his binder and textbook trying not to laugh and actually learn something instead. He goes for an exasperated look because he can’t really trust himself to relax his face.

Harry scans the room to see who’s enjoying his little act, and he’s glad to see it’s everybody… except some fellow in the corner who looks like he’s about to jump out of the window to save himself from this hell. Harry flashes him a charming smile, and Liam returns it as quickly and emptily as he can. Harry Styles shall not disturb his learning process.

It doesn’t matter anyway because in just a few seconds a bunch of girls giggle and crowd their desks closer around Harry, cooing over him _like a bunch of pigeons_ , Liam thinks. Too bad pigeons can’t be CEOs. Pigeons can’t own everyone who’s ever hurt them. Pigeons don’t sign pay checks because pigeons can’t hold pens and don’t have signatures.

Liam sits up in his seat, mentally vowing to be the best non-pigeon ever.

“Mr. Payne, you look like you’re paying attention. Would you please tell Mr. Styles the correct answer?”

Liam’s mind blanks in worry and his face goes hot. “Uhhh…” he thinks out loud. A country name. It was a country. “… Brazil?”

Mr. Hoffman sighs.

“CAN SOMEONE TURN THE FAN OFF? IT’S GETTING A LITTLE _CHILE_ IN HERE!” Harry shouts from his seat rubbing his arms like he’s not sweating under his uniform blazer.

Liam’s face greatly resembles Bob the Tomato as he ducks his head back into his book. If Harry knew the whole time, why was he being so stupid about it?

By the end of the class, Harry’s been taken outside for a private talk and sent back in with a smirk as the bell rings.

Liam packs his bag hurriedly, hoping he doesn’t miss Zayn for Perrie again. It really is a race to get to the overly-groomed boy first. If Perrie got to Zayn before Liam, they’d be sitting at a table with Jesy Nelson and her collection of nail polishes. It is a disgusting fume to have at the table, but according to Jesy ‘her nails are her life’ so all Liam can really do was hope to god he beats Perrie (with a stick (just kidding)) to Zayn.

Of course, just as Liam looks up from his bag, he’s face to crotch with someone he really hopes he never has to be embarrassed by again.

“Hello, there,” Harry’s oddly deep voice greets him. “I just wanted to apologise about what I did in class today…”

Liam accidentally tunes him out, focusing instead on how someone could talk so slow. It was like waiting for ketchup to meet the neck of the bottle after forgetting to store it upside down. Liam kind of wants to bang Harry against the counter until his point comes out.

Liam blushes at the accidental double-entendre. The dirty joke pushes him back into reality just in time to hear:

“Would you like to have lunch with my friends and I at our table?”

Liam starts to say no—actually means to say no—but Perrie’s surely gotten to Zayn, and he’d rather be anywhere than getting a contact high from Jesy. So he says yes and lets Harry lead him into the courtyard to a table filled with a few people he recognises and who recognise him.

“Liam!” Niall shouts from his seat, waving his arms like an SOS. Really, Niall, Liam’s neither blind nor deaf, but he might be soon with all that flailing and shouting.

Niall’s an animate little figure from his chemistry class, also responsible for knocking over test tubes filled with lye or hydrochloric acid. He always picks Liam for a partner because Liam promised not to hurt him if Niall burned his eyebrows off on accident.

Then there’s Josh who waves and elbows Niall to settle him down. Josh is just a reoccurring presence in Liam’s life for some reason. Probably because their mothers are in book club together.

There’s a boy sitting daintily with his tie around his forehead stuffing his face with pizza. Liam’s only able to identify him as the Louis Tomlinson because it’s the Louis Tomlinson who starred in the school’s production of _Grease_ and kissed a boy open-mouthed during improv at a televised forensics tournament.

Then there’s some girls. Eleanor, debate champ. Danielle, cheerleader. Amy, Niall’s partner in crime. And Jenna, the Australian transfer student.

Harry introduces Liam, who waves awkwardly before he is forcibly encouraged to sit next to Niall by Niall’s surprisingly strong hand. (Must be all that cheating in football.)

Liam momentarily freezes up, not wanting to knock into the shoulders of the people he’s wedged between—Niall and Harry. He tries his best not to look constipated and pulls his (embarrassingly) Batman lunchbox from his backpack. Niall and Amy and Jenna find it a hoot and make Liam blush into the Guinness Book of World Records, but Harry just pats his shoulder and says he’ll be Robin with him this Halloween.

Thank _god_. Zayn kept saying no.

Liam smiles at Harry nervously and opens his bag, pulling out a turkey sandwich and some cubed up celery and carrots with a bottle of apple juice. He has to eat healthy to excel in track and become a famous cross-country star as well as being the CEO of a major company for which all of his enemies will someday work.

“Euhck,” Louis grunts around his greasy bite of heart failure. “Carrots.”

“Do you not like carrots?” asks Liam innocently, genuinely confused why anyone would make _that_ noise about something so good for you and tasty.

“Fucking hate em. Puked them once, but it was one of those hot, summer pu-”

“Okay, shut up!” Eleanor interrupted while Niall and Amy simultaneously made this primary school ‘AWWWWWW’ sound half-way between impressed and grossed out.

“You kissed that,” Danielle sniggers, rapidly tapping on the screen of her phone.

Eleanor ‘accidentally’ slaps the phone out of her hand and smiles flippantly. “Oops, that makes two things that will never happen again,” she says in faux apology.

Harry just stays quiet, watching his friends interact. It’s such a contrast between his behaviour in class. He seems almost calm… until Jenna calls out for ‘Larry’ to get together so she can take a picture for yearbook. Then all hell breaks loose and Louis’ climbing Harry like a tree while Harry _yodels_ across the courtyard.

Everyone laughs and lunch supervisors grimace, but Liam just sits there unaware of the fond smile on his face. He wishes he could be that comfortable with his friends. Mostly he just tries not to touch Zayn’s hair, and he really doesn’t want Andy putting him in chokeholds. (Andy is huge and in the public school’s heavy-weight wrestling division purely because of muscle mass.)

Liam’s snapped out of his reverie by a nudge from Niall. Liam looks up to see Niall widen his eyes in a way that only says ‘holy shit, mate, you gotta see this’. Niall’s eyes cut  to the side where Danielle keeps glancing at Liam from under her eyelashes now that’s she’s finally looked up from her phone long enough to notice how surprisingly handsome Liam is to be carrying a Batman lunchbox.

Liam’s eyes accidentally catch hers for a moment, and she narrows her stare beneath her mascara before she looks down suddenly biting her lip.

_DANIELLE used GLARE!_

_It’s super effective!_

_LIAM is PARALYZED! He can’t move!_

Niall pinches Liam under the table.

Liam fake coughs to hide his pained gasp and grabs his apple juice. He needs a drink. He’s all hot and flustered, and his mouth’s gone dry. But it’s not from Danielle… Well, it is from Danielle, but not from her coy flirtation techniques, which Liam’s pretty sure he read about in one of his sister’s magazines. It’s just that this is usually where things get more awkward than Liam himself. This is the part where he has to explain to Danielle that she’s pretty and anyone would be lucky to date her, but he’s not attracted to her. He’s not gay, but girls aren’t exactly _his thing_.

A note is passed to Liam from his left and he looks over to see Josh staring at him expectantly with a slight smirk. Liam opens it.

_Dani wants the d_

Liam cinches his eyebrows at Josh shortly in silent reprimand. He pulls a pen out of his blazer pocket and writes back.

_Shut up or I’ll pee on everything you love_

He passes it back, and Josh snickers, scribbling some more.

_you mean on your mum’s mouth_

Liam grimaces and is about to reply (even though he shouldn’t because clearly Josh is just trying to get a rise out of him), but Harry appears back in his seat out of nowhere and leans over into Liam’s personal space to read the paper.

Harry casually takes his pen and the paper with permission, making excited strokes on the page. With a sweet smile, Harry hands it back to Liam who then wants to beat his head against the table until it explodes.

(Liam blushes again. What is with him and accidental innuendos today?)

Harry—lovely artist Harry—has drawn a smiley face with curly hair and swastikas for eyes beside Danielle’s name.

Louis, mid-drink, sees Harry’s proud smirk and snatches the paper from Liam. Bad idea. Coke sprays out of his nose and he wants to scream in agony but he can’t stop laughing even though it feels like he’s got sparklers shoved up his nostrils.

Niall takes it from a crippled Louis, then Amy, then Josh again. Jenna sees it, then finally Danielle intercepts the pass from Jenna to Eleanor.

Swastika Eyes gives everyone ‘fuck you’ eyes, including Liam even though he hasn’t done anything wrong. He didn’t even laugh. “Alright, well when you _twats_ -” She says ‘twats’ like she’s the first to notify them of having the status. “-want tickets to see Usher, you can all share tissues in the nosebleed section.”

“What do you reckon we’ll be doing up there?” Harry smirks at her perversely.

Eleanor and Danielle both groan.

“Well, when you put it _that_ way…” Harry half-turns in his seat to give Liam a mischievous grin. “I want to sit by Liam.”

Four-eighths of the table bursts out laughing and Liam could _die_.

Right there.

“I um- I’ve got to visit my locker.” Liam awkwardly climbs out of his seat looking like a drunk giraffe and grabs his trash, running away with it. He hears Harry shout goodbye and Louis whistle behind him.

He jogs across the courtyard to the corner where, at another table, Perrie and Zayn are putting away their hairsprays and talking about hold versus versatility. Jesy Nelson and her nail polishes are gone, thank god, but he still feels uncomfortable when Zayn doesn’t notice him and kisses Perrie full on the mouth. Like when did that even happen? Zayn and Perrie equal a thing? Since when?

“Liam!” she gasps, ripping her mouth away from what seemed like Zayn’s space-vacuumed smooches.

Zayn turns around, ignores the facts that Liam’s eyes are the size of Russia, and instead scolds him on being so late to lunch. Asks him where’s he’s been. “Have you been in the library?” he tries after Liam just blushes.

“Saw him with that Harry bloke,”Perrie inserts.

Liam wants to call her a purple-haired muppet and tell her to shut up about his life, but he doesn’t. Liam’s still pretty bitter about her joining in on his Zayn time. This whole kissing thing has just amplified his dislike of her. But he also would like to not make Zayn hate him for the rest of forever, so what can a guy do?

“Harry Styles? As in _the_ Louis Tomlinson’s Harry Styles?” Zayn’s Sharpie-made eyebrows bounce up and down and pull in and out. Should he be surprised, confused, disgruntled, or what? He doesn’t know.

“I had lunch with them, yes.”

Perrie takes out her vibrating phone and squeals loudly. “Yeah, and Dani has a massive thing for you apparently!” Perrie gives him an ‘omfg I have the secret to life’ look while Zayn grimaces.

“What makes you say that?” Liam blurts out nervously.

“Danielle texted the dance team to keep their hands off you, and Leigh-anne texted me, and I’ve only been shipping it since forever.”

“Shipping?” Zayn and Liam ask at the same time, equally as confused.

“Nothing. You wouldn’t understand. Point is, according to Leigh, Payzer is about to be _so_ on.”

“Payzer?” they chorus again, making faces.

“Payne. Peazer. Payzer. God, keep up you two.”

Zayn and Liam share looks. Zayn’s says that they need to have an overnight. (Not sleepover. Boys don’t have sleepovers.) Liam’s says that he better not bring any alcohol or Perrie but if he absolutely must bring Perrie then he should just go ahead and bring the alcohol as well.

[][][][]

“Danielle Peazer, huh?” Zayn smirks, shading the corner of the homework he’s not doing.

Liam goes pink and slaps the pencil out of Zayn’s hand. “Shut up. It’s not even like that.” He huffs as Zayn hums long and condescendingly. Liam fully expects him to say something rude and embarrassing, but Zayn surprises him by providing a non-dignity-ruining inquiry.

“Is this one of those times when a girl likes you, but you want different things?”

Liam is about to nod, but Zayn cuts him off.

“Different things like you want to be just friends and she wants to sit on your face?”

There it is.

Classic Zayn. Puts on a shy, misunderstood act at school and saves up all his perverted assholity until it’s just Liam.

“Why do you do this to me?” Liam groans. “You’re so gross.”

“Hate to break it to you, but most straight and bisexual men would quite enjoy that hypothetical scenario.”

“I’m not gay.”

“Obviously. You haven’t put the Liam Payne stutter on me yet. If you can resist this, then you definitely aren’t completely gay.”

Liam throws a pillow at him and calls his logic shit. Liam is perfectly capable of liking whomever he’s chosen to be with. Just because he’s not into sarcasm and deep philosophical comparisons of life to shower curtains, does not mean that he can’t be fully gay if he is. Which he’s not. But still. The base of sexual attraction was not Zayn Malik’s ‘smoulder’.

“So if you weren’t there for Danielle, why’d you blow me off?” Zayn says it light-heartedly, but Liam can’t help but feel guilty. However, Zayn seemed to find himself enough of a distraction from his absence, so…

“Harry was being stupid in class and I guess that was his way of apologising to me?”

“For what?”

It’s then that Liam realises the grin on Zayn’s face has doubled in size. He looks like Spongebob when he found Squidward in the patty vault. Liam feels absolutely scandalised by the thoughts Zayn is thinking.

“I just got caught in his joke on accident. It’s okay. It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“He thought it was. He took you on a lunch date. He’s in love with you, Liam. You’re going to move to a little blue house and adopt two brats and have a dog named Kipper and have lots of butt sex. Liam, you and Harry are going to redefine gay.”

“Shut up.”

 

 

[][][][]

It’s been a week, and Liam can’t seem to shake Harry. He’s around this corner. He’s on that one. He’s found his locker. He’s at his track practise. He’s posing on his desk in at least four of his class periods asking to be painted like one of his French girls. Harry Styles is _everywhere_.

“Lee-yum,” Harry yawns, snuggling around on Liam’s shoulder in study hall. Liam, contrary to popular belief, is actually incapable of ignoring Harry. He can pretend to, but one look from those green eyes and chubby little cheeks and Liam is done for.

“Can’t you go, like, molest Niall or something?”

Harry yawns again. Then he bites Liam. Because Liam is biteable.

“What is _wrong_ with you?!”

“Do you do any tricks?”

“Oh, yeah. My favourite one is the one where I shove my pencil up your nose and stab your brain.”

“Rahhhw,” Harry meows, clawing at the air like an utter moron.

“Don’t you have homework?”

“If I could rearrange the periodic table of elements, I’d put uranium and iodine together.”

“You’re weird.”

“You like it.”

Liam taps Harry in the balls with the corner of his book and watches the curly haired lad laugh out the pain on the library’s red indoor/outdoor carpet. His face nearly turns the same color and he wheezes and Liam regrets nothing. Besides, he does kind of like Harry. Kind of more than he’s willing to admit.

“What’s wrong with him?”

Liam looks up to find Eleanor and Danielle staring, uncompassionate, down at Harry who is still holding his crotch in foetal position on the carpet.

“My goodies,” Harry rasps out, shooting Liam a pained smile. “Naughty.”

Danielle giggles—Liam tries not to pass out from anxiety—and sits closest to Liam on the arm of the sofa in the library’s lounge area. “Hello, Liam.”

Was her voice that low last time? Did she bat her eyelashes quite as much? Isn’t there a rule about buttoning your school shirt to the top? That is definitely not to the top.

Harry makes gagging noises from the floor, now all cuddled up to Eleanor’s boot and ankle.

Danielle shoots him a look. Her swastika eyes, which Liam now realises Harry’s picture was not an exaggeration at all.

“Um, hi.” Liam half-smiles nervously. Here it comes…

“How has your day been?” Danielle asks it in such a way that Liam feels violated physically and emotionally.

“Just nothing,” Liam splutters, forgetting her original question completely as her finger starts running up and down his arm.

“Just nothing?” she repeats and bites her lip. Liam has to give it to her. Not many people can pull off the whole lip biting thing.

“I’m uncomfortable.”

At this, Harry and Eleanor burst out laughing because did Liam really just say that? Did he just tell Danielle that he was not okay with her flirting?

Yes, yes he did. Liam Payne, ladies and gentlemen.

Danielle turns a new shade of embarrassed and backs off, out of the library, possibly out of the country for a little while. Harry lets Eleanor kick him as she frees herself to chase after Danielle. He just keeps on laughing. Liam is better than sliced bread.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” Liam breathes to no one in particular. “I can’t believe I just did that,” he repeats.

“Liam, you’re great,” Harry laughs, pulling one of Liam’s shoe strings for no other reason but to destroy the bow then drop it. He rolls over to the edge of the sofa and crawls back onto it. His cheeks and the bridge of his nose are still magenta from laughing, and his hair is just a big pile of fluff, but it’s cute and oddly attractive on Harry.

Liam thinks he should stop staring. Because Harry is not his type. It would never work. And Harry is not his period. If he’s anyone’s, he’s Louis’; Liam does not want to compete with Louis, but if he goes after Harry there will be no avoiding it. Louis loves challenges, and he’s not known for losing. (Not even when he kissed that boy during a forensics tournament. He got the improv award for his daringness and creativity.) And Liam knows he just won’t have a chance in taking on the Louis Tomlinson now or ever.

Harry, though, doesn’t seem to mind Liam’s staring. In fact, he stares back adoringly with this big, stupid grin on his face like Liam is a giant pastry with his favourite glaze. Harry leans in and pokes Liam’s birthmark (aka the bane of Liam’s physical existence).

“Stop! That tickles!” Liam catches Harry’s finger on his neck, which of course translates in Harry’s mind to ‘I want you in my personal space’. So Harry leans in.

“You smell good.”

“ _Harry_ ,” Liam complains quietly as the curly-headed weirdo takes exaggerated whiffs of his arm. “That’s so _weird_.”

“Your breath smells like oranges.”

“Harry!”

Harry breathes deeply. “Mmm… oranges…”

“Why are you so weird?”

“Why are you deflecting my compliments?”

Liam barely has half of ‘I don’t know’ out when Harry interrupts resolutely with “It’s not rape cos I warned you” before pushing his lips against Liam’s, and Liam can’t stop the chorus in his head from singing _eff yeah hallelujah holla holla holla_.

Harry tilts his head so that their noses no longer bump and just leans into Liam like they aren’t in the school library. That fact alone makes Liam’s heart race so quickly he has to pull away before it explodes and he starts singing _holla holla holla_ to the whole room.

The moment feels over, though, when his mind clears enough to just start shouting _oh shit!_ repeatedly. Does he not entirely understand the concept of getting his arse publicly kicked by _the_ Louis Tomlinson? He only notices after at least a minute of worried ranting in his head, the fallen look on Harry’s face.

“That was too far, wasn’t it? I’m sorry. I’ll just-” Harry backs off, ready to join Danielle in Mexico and start a tomato farm, but Liam sort of yanks him back by his hand. (A little too roughly, but hey Harry’s got nothing against being manhandled by Liam.)

Liam splutters for a moment. “Sorry! Sorry, I just- you- I mean, I _do_ \- I wasn’t trying- it’s just-”

“You’re not into boys?”

“No. I mean- yes. I like… them. Boys.” Liam glows bright red.

“Is it me?”

“NO!” A few people shoot them dirty looks for being so loud. “It’s uhhh… It’s Louis.”

Harry frowns, and it’s so adorably out-of-place on Harry, Liam has to stop himself from turning to goo.  
“Well I’m not setting you up with him _now_.”

“But are you two… you know…?” Liam questions, already ashamed for even asking.

“What?!” Harry laughs. “Of course not! That’s so gross. Louis is like… _god_ , no. Just no, okay.”

“Oh.”

Harry scoots back into Liam’s personal bubble and pokes his birthmark again causing Liam to squirm through his embarrassment.

“It’s okay. I still like you, orange breath.”

Liam receives a bright smile from Harry, bunny cheeks and all, and he can’t help but smile back because Harry is so _weird_.


End file.
